Vantage Point

An overview

This is a build that took Leo Anderson solo through The Return to The Forgotten Age and allowed him to turn back time. It was one of my most entertaining and successful campaigns so far so I took the foolhardy decision to do a detailed write up, both for posterity and to share the journey.

There are a fair few spoilers relating to the preparation for the scenarios, which shouldn't surprise anyone on a 'return to' run. Fair warning.

Leo is a great choice for TFA but suffers with agility tests. The aim for this deck and upgrades is a balanced solo deck with a focus on draw and resources to enable a 'big rig' of weapons and allies. The side goal of this build is to get the most use out of the relic of ages and ultimately become well prepared for any eventuality.

Read on if you want to know my thoughts or just scan through to headings of interest.

Please post any thoughts or comments below, all feedback welcome!

[NB: This campaign run was conducted after the release of the starter investigators but before the release of The Innsmouth Conspiracy. No doubt veteran players will at several points scream, 'what about cards like Faustian Bargain or 'X' card as an option for Leo?' and you may be right to think so. With Versatile, Deep Knowledge looks like a good fit too too, but it wasn't in the considerations way back when the campaign started.]

Best Laid Plans

Considering Return to the Forgotten Age

Regardless of investigators and whether a 'return to' or 'vanilla' run, TFA pulls no punches. Scenario 1 and 2 put pressure on most builds and do gain a lot from the experience of playing them repeated times - to be fair that is one of the key themes explored across this cycle so don't give up! Trauma of some sort should be accounted for, including how you are going to tackle the poison weakness. Mythos busters Iron man episode Depths of Yarp goes into great detail on the vanilla scenarios as a whole and is worth a listen, although the return to TFA has some notable changes:

• The most important change is to the explore mechanic. This is huge for reducing the front loaded nature of encounter card exposure. In solo this needed conscious effort in building to weather the initial storm of exploration, before maximising speed to finish the scenario. Now explore is still dangerous but exposure to encounter cards is back-loaded, allowing investigators more time to get set up and get some locations on the board before worrying too much about the risks of exploring. This is particularly useful for rig-dependent builds such as the one put forward here. Even more helpfully, supplies that manipulate the explore deck are not limited to use at particular locations, meaning once deep in a scenario, if you have the right tools, you can if you want take almost all the teeth out of the explore mechanic. This was Leo's preferred option.

• This naturally goes onto another aspect unique to TFA, supplies. The changes in supplies have a small but massive impact solo. At the second 'supply point' following the Threads of Fate Scenario, there is extra bonus exp used only for supplies or healing poison/trauma. With a successful Threads run you can achieve a frankly phenomenal amount of normal and bonus exp. For Leo's run this meant being able to take pretty much all the extra supplies. Should you be deciding to turn back time, you will need to reject both Ichtaca and Alejandro as potential allies, but should you subsequently 'save' either of them in scenario this also gives you 2 bonus exp each, plus 1 exp for advancing past act 1 in any of the four acts... Bonkers and glorious.

While talking about trying to turn back time, there are some key things that need to be done to achieve this goal:

1. You need to forge your own path. At the start of Threads of Fate you must decide not to listen to Ichtaca or Alejandro Vela. This removes all and tokens from the back and adds an token. On balance this makes the chaos bag much nicer for the rest of the campaign, excluding what happens when you actually try to turn back time.

2. You must recover the Relic of Ages and keep hold of it. This is more difficult but should be the priority in Threads of Fate. Thematically this is a wonderful win for the campaign in terms of replayability. Each time you hold onto this odd device, even using it's fast trigger ability, you get more insight to what it does and what it can do even where it is from; all drip-fed from flavour text and resolutions. Being able to hold onto this device and understand what an earth this was all about... timeless.

3. You must survive all scenarios and complete the final secret scenario 'Turn Back Time'. This is the real challenge. Hopefully this build and the rest of this guide will prepare you somewhat. Being that secrets are best left hidden that's all you'll get from me!

There are a couple of optional extras that should be considered for a return to turn back time run:

1. The new bonus ally in Threads is amazing for Leo, that should be priority 2 after recovering the relic.

2. There is finally a reason for the strange liquid in Depths of Yoth. There is a bit of luck involved to finding what it does, but in addition you need to keep your Fury of Yig below 11, plus some special supplies from other scenarios. I missed out on my run due to the rising Fury count but it would have made my life much easier. Fun but not essential. Keeping your Fury low certainly helps, but Leo and friends never liked snakes.

The other changes, including the encounter sets, put extra value on different supplies and make evasion arguably even more important. I really like the Tindalos Alpha, but we all know they are useless against cats, specially Cat Burglars; Leo has much more important work to do to be bothered by the hounds of time.

Good luck adventurers!

Out of Body Experience

An Investigator Deconstructed

There's not much more thematic than taking Leo Anderson into the jungle, but it's going to be quite a trip!

Leo is an interesting investigator, he has full access to guardian combat prowess and protection, plus partial access to the rogue collection of money, tricks, favours and generally slippery behaviour. His stat line is pretty resistant to the mythos, with reasonable and plus middling . His Achilles heel is literally his . The most efficient way of compensating for the latter is to completely avoid testing it; either by getting his allies to soak the fallout, using his to quickly remove a threat, or having some roguey tricks to sidestep it altogether.

His special ability is the option of a reduced cost ally at the start of each turn. His adds a bit of ally card draw gravy whenever it shows up.

Allies have some of the more powerful abilities in the game and provide welcome boosts to stats, testless damage/clues/movement/actions etc. A fair trap for Leo is to pack masses of allies in a deck early in a campaign, include Calling in Favors and lean into double Charisma for early upgrades. The main reason to hold back on this is the cost and flexibility. The initial allies available to Leo are generally expensive and tend also to be specialised. Especially for solo play preserving a balance of assets, events and skills can't be understated, that and too many allies will restrict options. Leo is still well-suited to having more allies than normal, but from repeated plays in TFA, it is certainly fewer than I originally considered. Certainly at more experience with double Charisma and some story allies, the increased number of allies can make a literal army, but the early challenge for Leo is to preserve consistency while bolstering his ranks as his experience grows.

Behind the promise of these reserve forces, there are two areas I think need to be well established in Leo build - resources and card draw. Especially if you want to make the most of his abilities, playing several allies a game will shrink his hand and can't reliably be compensated by bonus draws - along with the not insignificant drain on resources. Add to this that guardian cards are also resource hungry and Leo needs some focused help from the rogue card pool to get serious. While there are a few resource generating options out there, early in a campaign Lone Wolf and "Watch this!" provide the most efficient return at level 0. Decorated Skull certainly can be made to work as it covers both of Leo's needs and plays directly into his modus operandi of killing enemies and allies alike. It's a real shame he can't take level 3 Decorated Skull, as that would probably kick out Lucky Cigarette Case. But card draw is best done without taking the action to do so. In Leo this means focusing on cantrip skills (Overpower, Guts and Daring work well) and the Lucky Cigarette Case, before we get more juicy options with experience. Prime targets for exp are Easy Mark - the current grail of resources and card draw, level 2 Overpower, level 3 Enchanted Blade, Ever Vigilant (eventually x2 due to the massive rig you can build), and the glorious Stick to the Plan.

A special point should be made for Stick to the plan and Easy Mark. Between them they shrink your effective deck size by 6 cards and massively boost consistency, an important consideration however is deck space for the potential 3 slots taken up by easy mark. As you will see as the deck progresses, the level of draw and resource doesn't always need to be that high, and for the sake of space for certain key cards, I drop an easy mark to make space, then repurchase it again later. In solo Lone Wolf is the most consistent resource engine, as you increase player counts I might move more towards Decorated Skull plus an early Leo De Luca, or Investments, Hot Streak L2 with exp. I think level 2 Emergency Cache has a place here, especially with stick to the plan, but the combo potential with multiple easy marks trumps this for me. Such is the choice here, lots of different routes can be taken scenario to scenario, depending on how your deck composition shifts.

Combat is pretty straightforward for guardians, so once we have a clear resource and draw engine I like to ensure Leo's investigation is bolstered appropriately. The main choices for investigation at present are Flashlight, Intel Report, Scene of the Crime, Evidence! and Followed. There is also some ally support from Grete Wagner and Alice Luxley. While Grete Wagner is a sound choice, she follows a prerequisite of Evidence!, in that you need to be killing enemies to trigger. In multiplayer I think these type of effects shine, where you want to contribute to cluing and have numerous enemy targets, but in solo, unless you pack On the Hunt or some scrying, they can be 'dead-cards-waiting'. Alternatively Intel Report and Scene of the Crime only need resources before they are good to go. For assets, normally Lockpicks has a place in those that can take it, but for Leo he doesn't have the most nimble fingers. Better then he packs a couple of Flashlights - particularly for those low shroud locations where you can ignore all but the . Flashlight is so reliable, I found myself regretting cutting them down toward the end of the campaign, there are quite a few locations with 2 or less shroud so don't go thinking it can't pull its weight. Restocking it with Venturer is a strong play to preserve charges, but it is yet another high cost ally. If you want a more cluver focused Leo, this paring is a great option. Another mistake I made in this build, although it impacted little on the deck was Keen Eye. This is a great card for Leo due to the potential for high resources and actions to make the most of it, but where my deck got to in terms of cost vs resource generation, there was little or no room for stat boosting.

Another key aspects to consider is effective damage (c.f dablage). Guardians excel at damage and have so many ways to have fun with this. In solo we have to make sure this is tight and focused across the available assets, events and skills. I've avoided discussing them for so long it is probably time give the allies some love now in providing this and Leo definitely agrees. The prime focus is bonus damage and the only allies that fit at level 0 are Guard Dog, Beat Cop and Alice Luxley. Beat cop is an expensive vicious blow, but really it's his stat boost and soak you'll be using him for. Luxley can work here but suffers the same issue as evidence in that you need those enemies around. In solo they are never there when you need them. For that reason Guard Dog is currently the number one level 0 ally for Leo hands down. Those canine companions are cheap, offer fair soak and give testless and actionless damage; think of them as 3 vicious blows for the cost of 2 resources (yeah I'm ignoring the stat boost, shussh). I think Beat Cop makes sense for a combat focused Leo, but Alice Luxley can stand toe-to-toe for a cluver Leo. Ultimately I leaned more on leo's statline to help trigger Overpower and ensure some reliability for the Lucky Cigarette Case.

For upgrades again space is a premium. I actually rate Hired Muscle over Beat Cop, he's so much cheaper, m0re soak and utterly expendable. Treasure Hunter vs Alice Luxley holds a similar place for me should you build that way. As you can see from my later deck choices I've leaned more into utility allies with the wonderful Cat Burglar to help free up space used by Decoy and Think on Your Feet (wonderful card). Catty is so much more helpful in Leo for both his soak and get-out-of-Jail options.

After these ally choices for combat, a good guardian needs some beat down tools. There might be an option to build an event focused boxing Leo, but rogue options with ammo support encourage a push to guns, big guns. Cost and hand size are a problem here so we want to focus on single handed options early game, ideally with lower cost, before adding in Lv2 Bandolier to keep that rig-bloat a real thing. Enchanted Blade is the quintessential replacement for pre-taboo Machete and the upgrade is delicious for most guardians. I went with one Survival Knife just to try out the level 2 option. While I don't think it really did masses of work, it was helpful, but at two damage I often wished I was holding two of them. .41 Derringer or Switchblade are decent alternatives for an offhand weapon. When upgrading to big hitters I think M1918 BAR is the prime Leo weapon - it combines scalable boost and damage boost that is particularly useful in City of Archives, plus it really makes short work of the Father of Serpents. Timeworn Brand is lovely alternative to enchanted blade or survival knife but I find the heal and draw plus reduced cost makes enchanted blade Lv2 a keeper. Reloading the BAR is very efficient with Swift Reload and even better on Stick to the Plan. For solo where actions are so precious, this blows Contraband out of the water for me. I'd only consider going contraband with other ammo boosting cards like Extra Ammunition, Custom Ammunition, Venturer etc. With space considerations, this is probably again best left for multiplayer.

Moving on, the soak from allies is a prime concern for both his sanity and flat feet, so having multiple allies out can make a huge difference. As mentioned early upgrades should be at least one Charisma to take some heat off the ally slot. At this point we should discuss Mitch Brown. I love Mitch and I'm sure Leo shares similar sentiments. A soft double charisma for non-unique allies, good cheap soak and an unexpected courage. He's a dependable and expendable stalwart ally that shares in Leo's saga of successful albeit questionable expeditions. Whatever his motivation for joining Leo, Mitch facilitates the formation of an army and encourages building with lots of non-unique allies. It is having Mitch around that makes the choice of having Leo De Luca onside more difficult. There is no denying the power of his extra action but the resource cost, even with the exp and ally discount, still needs careful consideration. In retrospect I would push in the Lion into the build bit sooner than I did once you have one or two Charisma, but I'd ensure resource generation clearly established and may keep around a "Watch this!" or perhaps Emergency Cache to compensate a bit more. For this build the The Tower • XVI really put pressure on my resources so it never felt as viable but without that I or some thing like Paranoia I think the Lion would have signed up to the expedition much sooner.

With all those choices, and all the draw piled into the deck, there is certainly a strong argument for adding in Versatile once the space for upgrades diminishes. The more exp that is packed in a deck, the less space there is for other toys and the fewer targets for Adaptable. Versatile is very powerful if supported with enough draw, I don't always pick an off class level 0 if the deck is functioning well, but the return of flexibility again with Adaptable is as welcome as space for more exp cards.

The last piece of upgrading puzzle in 'big-rig' builds is to consider Well Prepared. With Mitch Brown alone you can have a +2 to a test a turn. Depending on campaign rewards and assets purchased it can become even more powerful. If you ever thought playing Relic of Ages of ages was pointless, Well Prepared prepared is the counter to that. It even makes using the ability of the relic worthwhile, especially when you use well prepared to try to pass the test. Truly a gift that keeps giving!

Putting out fire with gasoline

Piloting Leo

Mulligan Prioritisation

1. Push hard for Lone Wolf, keep hold of a Guard Dog, "Watch this!", Easy Mark and/or Flashlight if lone wolf is not seen for some cheap consistency.

2. Get some draw with Lucky Cigarette Case or some cantrips. When you have cantrips, especially Easy Mark I'm always torn when to mulligan, as they will quickly replace themselves and still provide help. If you get multiple easy marks, Keep them all!

3. Having a good spread of assets is gravy but later on will ensure a fast start setup, particularly when Ever Vigilant is on Stick to the Plan.

A wunder-hand is one of each of the following:

1. Lone wolf.

2. Lucky cigarette case/1-2 cantrips/easy mark. (Expedition Journal)

3. Flashlight/intel report/Scene of the crime

4. Guard dog/cat burglar/beat cop, (relic of ages, new RtTFA ally or possibly bandolier)

5. Enchanted blade/Big gun especially if bandolier/survival knife.

You'll notice Well Prepared not here. You can consider this a pure enabler and it is still worth keeping if you have the right assets in hand, but generally you want to see this after the rig is set up. It is worth noting some scenarios like Shattered Aeons really need good investigating early so this affects mulligan priorities a bit, as explained later.

The Expedition Leader

General adventuring advice

• Continue to build on an initial focused rig and keep moving. The sooner you can get some key assets on the table the better, one or two or even three actions a turn to set up might be the right call early on. Save your ability for allies to allow Ever Vigilant, a vital early purchase, to do the same for your other assets. I'd aim for one action a turn to explore or investigate until you feel the main assets are down for that scenario. While the focus on this deck includes supporting draw, don't be shy of using draw actions to push you into a needed asset or one of the numerous cantrips if you don't have the cards you need.

[It is perhaps worth clarifying what a 'big-rig' looks and how to approach it. I'd call a 'big-rig' anything that likes to fill all the investigator slots, extra slots and more, gaining power as it does so. It doesn't mean for Leo, he can't function with one or two assets out early game, but he will continue to function more effectively the bigger his rig gets. For rough rig priorities I would follow the mulligan priority above, considering of course the scenario requirements.]

• Generally for the first couple of turns in a game I would hold onto allies and only throw them down when needed, this helps hold onto resources more than anything else. However if you ever have two or more allies in hand and none on the table, always get one preferably more expendable ally in play. This will help protect you from Leo's weakness Bought in Blood which prevents you hording a hand of allies.


• Later in a scenario those allies can and should flow onto the table en-masse, especially when creeping low in health/sanity. Don't be shy throwing allies under the bus as your compliment of willing mercenaries builds. Cat Burglar and Leo De Luca should of course be the last to go, another reason not to play them until affordable. As a small caveat, I'd only have one Hired Muscle or Treasure Hunter in play at a time, unless you've lots of change to spare. It is usually helpful to have an ally ready to take the hit for encounter cards like Snake Bite as poison is no-one's friend, although it matters less in a high health investigator like Leo. When you forge your own path there also will be no autofails due to poison so even better!

• Investigating should be fast and loose. Get the necessary clues from the locations that are easiest, move on if you don't have an answer to high shroud, draw if you are stuck. Testless investigating is best but use what you have. Take the Initiative is the a great back up for a middling shroud if you haven't needed it for a nasty treachery or are saving it for a boss. Well Prepared is your investigating friend should you be packing Mitch, or the relic.

• It is unlikely you won't have at some answer for enemies. If you don't have a weapon yet, your cantrips will draw into one soon enough, Overpower and Daring of course helpful here as you punch or stab your way clear. Later on Leo can take Glory just to double down on this backup strategy or just to keep up momentum. Survival Knife and Guard Dog are also helpful when stuck. At least a couple of times in the campaign I took attacks of opportunity to kill a 3 health enemy with a guard dog, soaking one or two horror on other allies and just getting other jobs done. Survival knife there to clean up the slightly bigger enemies. More often though I had the tools to dispatch most enemies in one or two actions.

Surprise! - (c.f Supplies)

One of the great things about TFA is the choose your own adventure feel of the supplies. As mentioned, The Return to TFA has a much more generous second supply point allowing you to get a lot more supplies, things are going well. Generally all supplies are optional, but they can seem cruel to be missing something first time around, as not having them at the right time usually hurts in some way.

For this run Leo did as follows:

• Suppy point one: Provisions 2, Pendant, Binoculars, Map, Torches,

• Supply point two: Gasoline 2, Chalk, Canteen, Pocket knife, Pickaxe,

I might consider alternatives over a pocket knife but was very happy with the choices overall.

Map, compass, wallet and watch

Scenario specific piloting and upgrading

The Untamed Wilds

Get the clues and get prepared to parley before advancing the act, ensure you have Fine Clothes and preferably a Perception before meeting Ichtaca, if diplomacy fails it's time to fight! A map will help protect later explore actions and find the ruins faster, but focus on exp locations if running out of time before resigning.

The Doom of Eztli

Adaptable needs to be a early purchase to ensure you have at least one copy of "I'm outta here!", if you see it, hold on tight to it, its the one card that gives you some breathing room. otherwise the doom clock is punishing. Also cast off the Fine Clothes. Elusive is an option pre-taboo but post taboo limits upgrades later and defeats the point of adaptable. For exp I would rather have Cat Burglar/Easy Mark/Charisma. Scenario wise investigate hard and fast, ensure you have some investigation options in your mulligan. Torches and binoculars help a bit to avoid bad explores. Snake Mama can be ignored or punched a couple of times depending how your game is going. I may have considered a Treasure Hunter over a Hired Muscle but Perception +/- Flashlight were still strong here.

The Threads of Fate

This is a wonderful scenario! You will want an answer for the Brotherhood Cultist and Leo's answer is the M1918 BAR. I like to have a Bandolier with the BAR, ideally Level 2, but if experience is tight then Adaptable still pulls the level 0 one in nicely. similarly having a Prepared for the Worst increases the likelihood you will see the 'beat all resistance' stick. As your resource engine is improving, I would lean more onto Intel Report to help with clues, remote grabbing clues is lovely if you have the money for them, or if you think all is good perhaps it is time for Leo De Luca to give Leo a tour of Arkham. At this point I might be considering Grete Wagner for further clue support but only with extra charisma. As mentioned, if attempting to turn back time then prioritise recovering the Relic of Ages at all costs, and then go for the new act 4. If you can manage one or two of the other acts you are going to be swimming in exp after this scenario. Might be time for Stick to the Plan and some further Adaptable juggling. With bonus exp for supplies, take what you can and turn Leo into the 'Swiss army' explorer of TFA.

The Boundary Beyond

Don't fear the beyond, its fine. Really this scenario is pretty fair if you have a good answer for smacking 3 health off Ichtaca's rival Padma. I find a BAR does this quickly and efficiently. With regards to exploring, make sure you have an answer to act 1b to limit your weakness count. Keep a Guts or Take the Initiative around if possible before going beyond the veil to one possible future. I would aim for 1-3 cleared ancient locations as possible, be selective where and when you explore, time is always against you. Pay close attention to location connectors too, this helps and hinders progress greatly. For my run Leo managed 2 paths known, a touch of experience, but perhaps more importantly, no trauma.

The Heart of the Elders: Part 1

Doubling down on Stick to the Plan, a Swift Reload is handy or push more into allies with another Charisma. The ideal with this scenario is to rush to Act 1 and aim for 1-2 clues before resigning. Having a canteen gives you one pillar each time you replay, and the map speeds up initial exploring. Poison is a problem you generally want to avoid, but not terrible if it does occur. Duck in and out, any exp is a bonus. Exploration is helped immensely by the new Threads ally. Leo managed 5 clues in one go but deliberately redid the scenario for the last pillar to avoid trauma and vengeance points.

The Heart of the Elders: Part 2

Early Clue tech is important here as progress can't be made without it. As there is no upgrading between Heart 1+2, make sure your investigating remains sound. You will also want an early/mid game answer for Snake Mama who may at this point have turned quite beefy. You want to be considering your vengeance and fury during Heart 1+2. Some compromises may be needed to keep your resulting Fury of Yig lower, should that be your goal.

The City of Archives

You took the pendant right? If not the pressure is on! Unless an investigator can take Adaptable you need to ensure you are ready for Archives from scenario 1. Luckily Leo is always ready for new adventures in useless bodies, although he is usually more comfortable using other people as the bodies. Make sure you use adaptable to swap out some allies (Leo has much less use for them without his usual powers) for Unexpected Courage x2. Getting another BAR doesn't hurt and leaning into the Lv2 Overpower is a sensible play before starting this scenario. Card draw is vital for Archives, so ensure if not already there you have some good draw options. Piloting Leo in the City is straight forward, grab clues and complete parts of the process as you find them. Beeline for the The Custodian when he appears and focus on the task objectives close to him to save some actions. I wouldn't spend too long in the Interview rooms. As for opening choices I would kill the Yithian Observer for exp and start already placed to 'interview the subject', mainly so you don't spend time looking for that room. It does however mean you will be taking some horror pressure from Cruel Interrogations, so if mental trauma is high, perhaps consider the alternative choice, or coming back to inverview if running low on tasks complete. Keep lean and reclaim your humanity! Leo managed a pretty impressive run with 6 tasks complete and 11VP. Caution is advised with Bought in Blood and the The Custodian, ensure you have another ally in play or in hand before getting the mystery ally onside if the blood debt has not been paid.

The Depths of Yoth

This in some ways is the peak of perfection in what to expect from TFA scenario - Push your luck, high replayability, enforced replayability, masses of enemies, variable location interactions, boss fights. Bring your A-game and enjoy the ride! Consider a Dynamite Blast of any level, ensure you swap back in your allies, perhaps get Well Prepared if not packing it already. Basically get tooled up for a fight, but don't neglect your investigating too much. Luckily for Leo, Well Prepared worked very well for clues with the Relic of Ages so dropping some cluing is an option, just remember I advised caution. Leo had some challenges getting started, especially after running out of clue tech, but with the relic online and a BAR in hand he was well prepared by the time he had to get Yiggy with it. Swift Reload and Cat Burglar facilitated some serious safe dablage over a couple of turns, while allies fell about taking AoE's from Snake Papa. It was pretty epic really; Leo couldn't hurt Yig without getting rid of his allies, and Yig couldn't get Leo without smashing some of his, close as you can get to a battle in the game at the moment.

Shattered Aeons

This scenario an odd fish, not in a bad way but in a slippery hard to predict one. The scenario his hugely variable with a massive encounter deck, the exploration is cruel and pressures horror if you don't keep on top of clues afte every move, and there are loads of locations you probably wont see even after many a games. Doom can rack up quickly, shortening an already punishing scenario, then there are 2-3 fairly hefty enemies to deal with depending which choices you made long ago. Plus if you plan to turn back time there is potentially even more enemies; the snakes and cultists descend all wanting a piece of Leo and the relic he cradles. Oh and if you like killing snakes, you lose the top card of your deck for every 10 points of Yigs Fury - bet you like that! Prior to this scenario Leo had an embarrassment of 12 Exp. It was time to use Versatile just to have space for more powerful cards, this was also the time I added in Leo De Luca and he was close to MVP in this scenario, ensuring there was enough actions and therefore time to get the job done. My advice is hit the ground running with a shorter set up than normal, prioritise cluing in the mulligan, clear locations as you find them and get to the pocket of time ASAP. You really don't want to be facing down the Formless Spawn, more for ammo than anything else, so ideally ensure you have a Cat Burglar around before then. Again the new ally from threads is a wonderful addition to protecting Leo and knowing what you are getting into with the explore. As for advancing the acts, be careful as it will happen automatically if hitting the pocket of time with the relic out. As such it is worth either ensuring you have your BAR locked and loaded before the Relic of Ages is put in play. When you do play the relic, make sure you have enough actions to cause some serious damage to your two opponents that appear in the pocket. If you have all that in place, it should be fairly quick to explore, investigate and flip two shattered locations after that. The doom clock is not your friend, but then again, Leo doesn't have a lot of forever friends either. In Leo's run due to the BAR, and the Lion, all opposition was melted quickly meaning he he had loads of time to get the two locations locked into the time stream, even with doom being added to the formless thing and cultists..

Turn Back Time

So we got here, we activated the Relic of Ages and jumped back in time, but back to what? Well a very hard scenario that's what, one you've seen before... haven't you? The main reason for it being much harder is the time pressure, the doom is being thrown on locations like before but now with a uniquely horrible token. You fail that beauty and you'll be adding yet another doom to your location. That could be 3+ doom a turn should you like failing (don't bring Stella with you!). So don't fail! Testless clues all the way, Flashlights on the low shroud and all the stuff you have been doing with Intel Report and Scene of the Crime. Over commit to the big tests. Again the BAR comes into its own here, along with swift reload. Just saying. Leo made some deck building mistakes here when deciding to rely on the relic + well prepared combo for investigating, having swapped out the last of his flashlights for other stuff - very bad idea. I suggest keep them if you can. Leo finished this scenario with his very last last action for the wine. When you are right down to the wire success is by no means assured. Due to investigation fails at the very first location Leo had a whopping 4 doom taken off each agenda. Just mean!

Final Stats

• Physical trauma: II
• Mental Trauma: I
• Fury of Yig: 14
• Snakes eaten: 36
• Supplies: Provisions 0, torches, map, binoculars, pendant, mysterious sceptre, canteen, chalk, pickaxe, gasoline 0, pocket knife, sticky goo
• Experience earned: 65 (7 from Turn Back Time and one spare from Shattered Aeons)
• Experience spent: 57